Franchisors are Doing Well in China

This post was written by Michael on December 19, 2010
Posted Under: Comments on Franchisors,Entrepreneurial

I have just returned from a trip to Beijing and while I wasn’t there on franchising business, you can be sure I kept my eyes open all the time to see how many franchises I could recognise.

Firstly, I have to say that Beijing was a big surprise. Any preconceived notions I may have had about it being a third world city vanished as soon as I entered the airport, walked easily through the Customs checkpoint and was soon whisking along a highway system that was as good as anything I’ve seen in the West.

Franchises in Beijing

Beijing is a clean, organised, efficient, bustling modern city. Most of the cars, buses and taxis are late models. There are traffic jams, though not really any worse than any other modern city. Certainly the jams are not like those you will experience in Jakarta, Bangkok, or Mexico city for example.

Here is a list of the franchises I spotted as I was driving around: KFC, 7-Eleven, Auntie Anne’s Pizza Hut, Sarpino’s, O’Briens, Kenny Rogers Roasters and Subway and Cold Stone Creamery. I’m sure there are many I missed, and I don’t know how many international franchises have set up shop in beijing, or the rest of China.

For franchisors who are sitting on the fence, wondering if they should test the market, I would suggest that it is probably already the single biggest market in the world and the disposable income is much greater than you probably realise. Couple that with an eagerness to embrace successful trends from overseas, a smart and hard-working workforce with a “can do” attitude and you have a potential gold mine waiting to be discovered.

Many of us have heard of the difficulties of doing business in China, but it is definitely getting easier as Chinese society opens up.

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